The women’s winner of the 2015 Boston Marathon Caroline Rotich was ready for today’s raw weather. The forecast called for high temperatures in the 4o-degree range with bitter gusts of wind up to 30 mph with scattered rain showers, but it didn’t phase Rotich.
After all, she was fully aware of Boston’s historic winter and took that into account in the training sessions leading up to the 119th running of the Marathon.
The Kenyan crossed the finish line with a time of 2:24:54 just four seconds ahead of second place finisher Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia (2:24:59) in what top American woman Desiree Linden (2:25:39) referred to as “a Boston finish, a tight race on Boylston.”
In a press conference after the race, Rotich, wearing the golden champion’s crown, was asked how her training in Santa Fe, New Mexico prepped her for today’s weather.
“In Santa Fe we had cold weather, not too much snow, but coming here I knew they had a lot of snow in Boston a couple months ago,” said Rotich. “I knew there was a chance of getting cold.”
With prior knowledge of what Mother Nature subjected Boston to this past winter (112-plus inches of snow), Rotich took up her position at the starting line in Hopkinton, 26.2 miles from Copley, ready to push through the rain if need be.
And she needed that push.
Rain fell sporadically at both the start and finish lines, as well as in between, and Rotich noted she thought she might get too cold and fall victim to the weather.
Throughout the race, though, she kept herself near and in the front of the pack with a finish that came down to the wire with Dibaba.
Nearing Boylston Street she wasn’t sure she’d be able to maintain a lead. But once she made the left turn from Hereford Street, she could feel victory within her grasp.
“I thought I was going to be sick,” she said. “I saw the finish line and was like, ‘Oh I can kick’… I took that turn and I sprinted. I came back and I had to give it all the strength I had.”
With a wide grin occupying her face and a glint in her eyes that matched her golden adornment, Rotich was asked what she’s going to do with her newly banked $150,000 prize purse.
“Haven’t thought yet,” she said, clearly focused more on recovery at this point. “After this is when I’m going to settle down and see.”
